The present invention relates generally to improvements for facilitating the dispensing of eye drops, the improvements more particularly obviating such prior art shortcomings as requiring a tilted-back head position, preventing inadvertent blinking and other occurrences during administration of the eye drops which are counterproductive to achieving the purposes intended.
It is already part of prior art practice employing commercially available squeeze bottle or equivalent eye drop dispensers to use positioning devices to direct the dispensed eye drops onto the eye surface where needed. Such positioning devices are exemplified by the tripod support of Campagna, et al. of U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,590, issue on Jan. 27, 1976, and the eye-encircling dispenser support of Bechtle of U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,944, issued on Jul. 30, 1985. These, and all other known prior art combined supports and dispensers, while beneficial, still have shortcomings. Such shortcomings include requiring special head positions and other special procedures or techniques that, at best, make self-application difficult and, more often, prevent the user from achieving proper eye treatment using eye drops. The prior art dispensers can sometimes even contribute to the spreading of the eye infection with an inadvertently contaminated dispenser.
The present invention is intended to provide a safe and effective eye drop dispensing method and components for its practice, overcoming the foregoing and other shortcomings of the prior art. Using the present invention, eye drops are more efficiently administered, reducing waste. This is of particular importance with certain medicinal eye drops, which are particularly expensive. Further, the present invention dispenses eye drops with the recipient's or patient's head in a natural position and otherwise with such ease that self-application is possible. As such, the present invention may be used even by the elderly and by patients with poor eyesight, crippling arthritis or other heretofore interfering handicaps.